Finding Contentment in Every Situation
Finding Contentment in Every Situation
By JM PerezToday I am sharing a picture of some Allium Drumsticks growing in my backyard.
Wishing you all a wonderful day and a blessed Father’s Day weekend with your loved ones.
By JM Perez By JM PerezWith Summer rapidly approaching and all the gardening projects almost complete, we were faced with one question: to cut down the Pine Tree or let it be? It stands tall between the deck area and the carport, providing some shade to these areas. However, the amount of pine needles falling from this tree alone is overwhelming. It requires high maintenance and constant clean up as the needles fall year-round. These trees are quite messy, the pine needles are always falling and piling up in the backyard. When the weather is good, clean up is easy and when the weather is erratic (with high winds lasting up to a week), clean up becomes quite painful as they get everywhere. Now I understand why some people allow trash to pile in their yard. It’s hard work, it’s endless and those needles are dangerous. Have you ever been poked by a pine needle?
After much considerations (six years of deciding the fate of the Tree), we cut approximately one-third of its branches a week and a half ago. Yesterday, with the help of our handy neighbor and his tools, we were able to cut down the Tree. We’ve been poked so much by the needles and covered in sap. It was worth the pain and we have no regrets. We’ve opened up the area and best of all, no more pine needles to deal with.
I love conifers and I prefer Fir Trees (Fraser Fir, Balsam Fir, Silver Fir, Spanish Fir and Korean Fir amongst my favorites). Pine Trees are gorgeous, especially when planted in groups or lined up and I love decorating my garden with pine cones. Unfortunately, my Pine Tree did not produce cones and it was growing at a slant. The Tree simply didn’t meet our needs and we needed the space, which is the perfect location for an upcoming project.
Pine Needles Uses:
Health Benefits
According to Wikipedia, Some species have large seeds, called pine nuts, that are harvested and sold for cooking and baking. The soft, moist, white inner bark (cambium) found clinging to the woody outer bark is edible and very high in vitamins A and C. It can be eaten raw in slices as a snack or dried and ground up into a powder for use as an ersatz flour or thickener in stews, soups, and other foods, such as bark bread. A tea made by steeping young, green pine needles in boiling water is high in vitamins A and C. More information here.
Learn How to Make Pine Needle Tea. Click here to learn about the right Pine Needle to choose. Yew, Norfolk Island Pine and Ponderosa Pines are poisonous.
By JM Perez By JM PerezRelationships can be a double-edged word. Like domesticated animals, everything is alright until they come biting you for little to no apparent reason.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” – 1 John 2:19 (KJV)
Like everything else in my Life, I took my job seriously and looking back, I almost became a workaholic. I tried as hard as I could to keep an ongoing communication with the outside World and me. I wasn’t as available as I would have loved to be and I didn’t realize how committed I was to my work. I was excited about a potential promotion. It became tricky to make time for Family, Friends and it seemed there were not enough hours in a day to do what I wanted to do. I had responsibilities, deadlines to meet and my sanity to keep in check.
Little by little, without realizing and/or inciting, I started distancing myself from others (and vise versa). Some people were happy for me and stood patiently beside me. Others simply couldn’t bear the silence and absence and decided to keep moving until I caught up to their rhythm, which I totally understood. One individual, whom I never expected and didn’t think was capable of, saw an opportunity to start a feud. That was eight years ago.
It happened at a time when I was deep in prayer for the right direction regarding the relationship. Looking back, I believe this was inevitable. Though not perfect, I was a faithful friend. However, to be blamed for not supporting a hurtful and hateful decision and to be asked to go against my belief – that to me, was the last straw. Keep in mind that, prior to this, I had my own sanity to keep in check. I have always believed that the Lord works in mysterious ways and I know He freed me from a load which wasn’t mine to carry.
I know a little bit about cutting cords and I have learned over the past years when to hang on and when to let go. Often times we stay in a relationship because we are scared of the unknown and we do not believe we can make it on our own. Because we do not believe in ourselves and in possibilities.
“No one is ever alone and silence does not equate defeat.” ― Joan Ambu
Some relationships are meant to be and others not so much. You can know someone all your life and then, out of the blue, the relationship ends. Does it mean either one or both individuals were bad? Maybe, but I think not. It just means that their chapter in the story of each others life is over at that particular moment. Parting and cutting cords doesn’t give us the right to hate or hurt each other. Besides, how does one begin to belittle someone or something he/she once loved without belittling him/her self in the process? Does it hurt? Yes and it will hurt until you learn to take charge of your Life and emotions. Should you regret ever knowing the person? Absolutely not. Hold on to the good memories and move forward with your Life. Our encounter with one another is a life lesson.
Love and Air are two of a few things which should be free. Do not force anything which doesn’t come naturally and remember that those who leave us, were never really with us. What’s the point holding on to them?
By JM Perez By JM PerezI had planned on tending to my plants today, but my attention got drawn to one particular Squirrel.
From my bedroom window, I caught the squirrel on the first picture (left) climbing on the planter and eating some of the Clarkia Amoena. As I ran outside to chase it off, it ran straight to its burrow, which is located at the next door neighbor’s backyard. When we built the Primitive 3 Legged Plant Stand early this year to raise it from the ground and prevent the Rabbits from eating the plants, I didn’t foresee Squirrels in the big picture. Just a few minutes later, I spotted the same squirrel next to our storage shed, wondering if it was safe to get into the basement, after damaging some of my Horsetail plants (picture on the right).
Either this Squirrel is starving or it just loves coming into our property. On the picture below (left), it found a nut somewhere in the backyard and it’s busy eating it. From he picture on the right, it’s just relaxing in the front yard underneath the Raywood Ash Tree. Life must be good or something for this little creature.
As I went to close the gate leading to the backyard, I spotted the little creature underneath the Sweet Almond Tree, enjoying a few Almonds. This Squirrel is fearless. I can’t believe how close I got to it before it ran off.
I guess after eating so many Almonds, it’s time to take a break and relax. Prior to that, it damaged and ravaged most of the plants in search of my Tulip and Crocus bulbs, seeds and digging up new sprouts. There was nothing funny about watching this varmint go through my garden the way it did. All the money spent on the plants and the energy spent in getting everything looking the way I wanted seemed to have vanished in an instant. I will be using an underground bulb cage for my next Fall bulb planting (click here for a tutorial in building yours).
So far, all attempts to get these Squirrels from our property have failed. For one we are thinking about removing all the Oleanders along the chain link fence in the backyard and installing wood fencing or Slats (none of these will prevent them from coming over; but it might slow them down as they will have to work harder).
For now, we set up a trap in one of their favorite locations. If it works, I will share the information with those of you dealing with sneaky Squirrels as well as other rodents in your yards.
By JM Perez By JM PerezAs the weather gets warmer (hotter, for those of us living in the High Desert), every one scrambles to the stores to stock up on cool drinks, snacks and others items to stay at home. The same scenario applies to animals as they search for their stores of stashed seeds, nuts and whatever they can find. I have seen Squirrels running in my neighbors backyard and just a couple ran across ours to get to the other side. There are just too many of them this year and they are starting to dig around. From the single squirrel I’ve seen on our property, they are now two.
This morning, I found a bunch of holes in my children’s raised garden beds. I was saddened to see some of the Gladiolus bulbs pulled out, lying on the ground, partially eaten and the stems cut off. We had stunning Gladiolus blooms (Fiorentina, Pears, Star, Yellow and Orange) the last couple of years and I can’t say the same for this year. We have two more larger raised garden beds (not pictured) next to the ones below. One of which has Pink Tulips bulbs and the other Onions; both sustained damages as well.
To give me some peace of mind and to prevent further damages until we find a permanent solution, my husband decided to wrap some chicken wire around the top of the garden beds.
How Can You Fight Back?
The first two options are the best as a hungry squirrel will take high risks to get to its food source.
By JM Perez
